Monthly Archives: August 2014

I started the month with $400 cash in my envelope and did a whole month of meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for $386.54.

We had also budgeted $100 toward dining out, but because of the meal planning, we ended up with plenty left in our envelope to do a spontaneous family day exploring some new places in L.A. over the holiday weekend.

Griffith Park Train Ride

Griffith Park Pony Rides

What I learned?1. It’s possible to feed a family of 4 healthy food for under $400/month.
I know we’re not technically 4 yet, but I am eating more than normal and my husband and I usually have a “second” dinner after we’ve put the munchkin to bed. Not to mention, with these recipes, we always had an abundance of leftovers! We probably could have fed two more adults each meal and still had dinner for us the next day.

I utilized the leftovers for my lunches a lot of the time or even a small portion for a snack in the middle of the day.

Did I mention I eat more than normal right now; not only portions, but also throughout the day? I tell you this again to emphasize that this plan has plenty of food. Even if you have a family of five or six, this should suffice. Or, you can always freeze portions to make your job easier the next month, and, hey, why not save even more money!!

Griffith Observatory2. Planning makes shopping quicker.
Having my list already prepared helped me stay on track. No more: aimlessly wandering the aisles to decide what I wanted. No more: “Oh, that looks good, I know it’s not the best for me, but I want it, so I’m gonna get it.” No more: guessing how much everything was going to cost hoping I brought enough cash. Best of all, no more: toddler going crazy in the cart because he’s tired of sitting and I’m only half way through the store.

I admit, I did not go to the store with a completed list my last week, and I swear I will never do that again. It was a great reminder of why I set this goal to begin with!

Hollywood Sign

3. Be Flexible:
Some things need to change. Days don’t always go as planned, produce isn’t always ripe when you want it, life happens.

I changed up the order of some of my meals during the week. Sometimes a particular meal sounded better to my pregnant pallet tonight instead of at the end of the week. If my husband was going to eat at home one night, but home late the next I tried to make something fresh the nights he was home and had leftovers the following night.

This was only possible because all of the ingredients to all of the week’s meals already in the house.

4. Smile & Have Fun:
Take the pressure off of yourself. It’s just dinner. If it doesn’t turn out how you expected, oh well! Make adjustments next time or toss that recipe into the never-again category.

Part of enjoying dinner is enjoying the process making it. I know, I know sometimes there are just days you’re in a hurry and food is simply a way of keeping you stable.

Lets not forget those experiences where you sit down and start salivating before your first bite. Those times you walk into a home or restaurant and the smell overwhelms you with anticipation of what you’re about to endeavor.

Do I want those experiences in my home too? Yes, of course!! They can’t happen all the time, but just thinking about walking into my own home with a roast or chicken or homemade lentil soup in the crockpot…ready to eat makes the cooking process so much fun…and relaxing!!! Add a little bit of this and a little bit of that…taste along the way…add some more of this.

Monthly Total: 386.54*
*I did not include restocking of spices/seasonings/salt/etc. on my lists. See my lists of Pantry Basics to see what you’ll need for this month and any other future recipes I post.

I hope this helps you attack your goals and gives you a resource for good prices, tips, and recipes.

A whole month of meal planning, and actually cooking and documenting these meals is completed!

It feels good to finish goals.

Part of my goal was to provide you with some grocery lists so you too can successfully Meal Plan on a Budget. I am finishing putting that information together and will have it soon, but I wanted to make sure I got my recipes to you as I promised.

So my husband has the ability to take random ingredients and make magic! This gift is probably due to the mystery basket challenges he did while in culinary school.

His instructors would put 5-7 items in a basket and he had to create something fabulous in a very short amount of time.

Along with his amazing cooking skills, comes the fact that he doesn’t really measure; everything is by eye and taste. Here are the ingredients for the salad, and I’ll let you decide how much of each you want to include.Ingredients:
-Power Greens
-tomato (cubed)
-sweet baby bell peppers (diced)
-avocado (sliced)
-leftover chicken (cut into small cubes)
-corn tortillas (cut in small strips and fried; or you can just buy them pre-made to make it easier)
-mix everything in large bowl
-serveDressing:
1. 1/4 c BBQ
2. 2tbs each vinegar
3. Approx 2 tbs honey
-drizzle over saladAgain, he doesn’t measure, so these are estimates and they vary depending on your taste buds.

We’ve made several dressings this month, and I’m fully confident in your ability to execute a masterpiece as well. Let me know what you try and if there’s anything good I can add to my recipe catelog.

This is a family favorite!!! At most of my family events, unless a major holiday, you will find these included in the feast. One of my all-time favorite meals, and best of all it’s pretty easy to make.

I adjusted quantities for an average family of four, because let’s be honest, every Italian family plans food for at least 15, even if we’re only feeding four… “You never know who might walk in. You can always have left overs!”

-Rinse and dry chicken off completely with paper towels!! This is crucial to getting the breading to stick and not fall off when your fry them up!!
-sprinkle salt on all sides of chicken
-Get all of your ingredients set up in separate containers, in this order:
1.) chicken 2.) flour 3.) eggs
4.) Breadcrumbs 5.) clean platter for assembled chicken

-one strip at a time, dip into each container in order. Make sure you shake off extra flour and extra egg so it doesn’t clump.

Cooking Time:

-heat olive oil at medium high heat (make sure olive oil goes 1/4″ up sides of pan. Quantity of oil differs depending on the size of the pan you’re using)
-When oil is hot gently lay strips, away from you, into oil with tongs (be careful not to splash oil! That hurts!!)
-get chicken a nice golden brown color and flip to other sideIf you’re concerned about wasting oil, here is a great resource to show you how to properly clean, save, store, and reuse the oil.

Low-sodium beef stock is a great alternative for water, just don’t use bouillon! That’s way too salty and has a bunch of unhealthy junk in it.
-cover on high for 6 hours (or until it breaks apart with a fork)

This was dinner for my boys while I worked and was gone for the weekend. I unfortunately didn’t end up with a final picture of it plated. I did taste it though, and it was really good.

This week’s meals are great for either multiple days or 6-8 people.

They are also good recipes to hang onto all year around. It’s been in the high 80s and 90s and these hit the spot, but on a cool fall evening or in the chill of the winter these would be fabulous options!

Maybe they tasted so good regardless of the heat because I’m ready to transition out of summer already!! You try them and let me know what you think.

Before we get to the recipes for this week, I’ve realized some trending ingredients in my cooking. If you want to successfully follow these, here are my staple herbs and spices for successful, flavorful meals:

Also, I had some great questions on reducing spoilage of produce, lettuce in particular. Here’s my response.Tip of the week:Veggies should last you at least a week if they’re fresh, but one thing I’ve found is that lettuce goes bad the quickest! I started buying organic spinach, arugula, or power greens (these don’t last as long as the first 2) in the pre-washed tubs by Earthbound Farms. They’re healthier than a head of lettuce or those pre made salad bags too. They’re $3.50, but I can get 3-5 uses out of them depending on what’s with it. Costco has bigger packs for $4.50 if you need more:)

I’m finding they last longer and by the end of the week if I haven’t finished them in a salad, I can sauté them with a little EVOO or even just a little water and salt and then I’m not wasting them.

If you’re looking to lettuce for the crunch, try these alternative greens and use carrots, toasted almonds, walnuts, or pears.

If you’re not already, planning out what you’re eating for the week might help you be more intentional about what veggies you buy and which to use first to make sure they don’t spoil. I hate wasting food!!

“Focaccia” Bread
-Oven should still be hot from Cauliflower, if not preheat to 425.
-We had left over pizza dough from the calzones, so we, by we I mean my husband, the dough expert, rolled it out and brushed it with olive oil, dried oregano, dried basil and dried thyme, and then sprinkled finely chopped garlic and fresh parsley.
-bake 10-15 minutes

-Plate it all up and serve

Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This is the easiest and quickest thing I’ve made so far! This recipe comes from my aunt. She taught me and my cousin how to make it in jr. high, so it’s been around awhile. Seeing as we are a Sicilian family, this is about as close to Mexican food as we ever made at home.

It’s prettying just putting everything together in a dish. I guess that’s the beauty of a casserole.

quick tip: If you follow this week’s meals, you can make double the chicken from the above recipe and then this will be even faster.

Assemble:
step 1: To spare you redundancy, just look at the above recipe to make your chicken and then after letting it rest, shred it with two forks.
step 2: combine shredded chicken and most of enchilada sauce in large bowl (put some enchilada sauce to the side)
step 3: pour a small amount of sauce (without chicken) at the bottom of baking dish.
step 4: line bottom with tortillas slightly overlapping and curving up the sides (my Pyrex fit six)
step 5: pour a generous amount of sauce an chicken mixture
step 6: top with cheese
step 7: put another layer of tortillas pushing down to make sure all sides are wet
Step 8: repeat 5-7 two more times
Step 9: pour remaining enchilada sauce (w/out chicken) and press down to make sure all tortillas are fully covered
Step 10: top with remaining cheese and olives
Step 11: bake 30-40 minutes (until cheese is nice and melted

Mac-N-Cheese:
1. 1 1/2 tbs butter
2. 3 tbs milk
3. 6 cups water
4. 6 oz box Back to Nature Organic Shells-n-Chedder (you can use whatever’s your favorite, but I found this to be the best and there are no preservatives!!)
-follow directions on box

So, here we have week 2 completed and we’re feeling great in this house. My husband told me last night that he’s been feeling much better with these healthier meals at home; we haven’t needed to eat out at the last minute because there wasn’t food ready.

The house always smells like something yummy cooking. There’s food on the table every night. My shopping trips are so efficient because everything’s already planned out. I get excited to cook because there are all these fantastic recipes I want to try and I have the food in the house to make them.

Until my munchkin’s next nap: I hope these recipes are inspiring you to plan too. Find your own routine and what works for your home, but I encourage you to try some of these.

A shortage of food has definitely not been the issue this week with the meals planned, which has been fantastic. One obstacle overcome! Instead, however, I think we could have fed an extra family each night with the amount of food these recipes make.

Keep that in mind. Either, invite some friends for dinner, cut the recipe in half (a good money saver), or freeze for later.

I hate wasting food! Probably because my older sister and I were always told to, “finish everything on your plate!” One time, when my parents thought my sister and I were complaining too much about leftovers, they made us eat cold cream of wheat, 3 meals a day, for a whole week; yes, they even sent it with us to school for lunch.

Greek-style Turkey Burgers
My inspiration came from Rachael Ray’s recipe on Food network, but here’s my version (I think I made it easier):

This idea started as what seemed like a simple Stromboli recipe and as I made changes to make it a little healthier and a little yummier (i.e. Trader Joe’s pizza dough instead of canned, frozen dough; ground turkey instead of pepperoni; homemade sauce…you get the point), my son woke up and my husband stepped in to assemble everything.

The above link has some great freezer meal ideas on a budget that I’ll be using along the way.

Part of his culinary school training was baking bread, so his ability to work with dough without it becoming a big blob trumps my lack of skills. I can bake a mean cake (which I was also doing while prepping everything for these), I decided to leave the pizzas and breads to him.

Stromboli is supposed to be rolled, buy with the fresh, soft, delicious dough, simply folding it over and making a calzone instead, made south more sense.

That being said…These were soooooo good!! And all the yummy fixin’s for the inside can be changed to your liking, but here’s the basics of what you need:
-Semolina
-Flour
-Pizza dough (I used 2 bag of Trader Joe’s dough because its the best)
-Pizza sauce (you can buy a jar/can pre-made or follow my easy recipe below)
-Mozzarella Cheese
-Any filling other you want

It was actually pretty amazing to see my budget stretch with all the ingredients I was stocking up on for the month.

Tip 1:Bring Cash- Shopping with cash and not card will help you stay on track. You’ll only buy the items on your list because that’s what you budgeted. Go to the ATM. What good is a plan if you don’t stick to it?

No, variable income excuses! My income is variable too, and we still do this every month. It will be hard at first, but be strong. Let’s create good habits together!

Each week I’ll update you on everything I’ve made, including recipes. At the end of the month I’ll post what everything cost individually along with some tips on saving money along the way.

I started the month with a $400 grocery budget. That’s all food made at home: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

I spent just under $200. We had quite a few staple items that needed restocking (i.e peanut butter, pancake mix, coffee, etc.) and I purchased all of my proteins for this month’s meal plan as well. I think we’re off to a good start.

For breakfast we rotate between cereal, a variety of ways we like our eggs, oatmeal, and waffles.

Lunches are usually PB&Js, turkey/egg sandwiches/wraps/salads, or quesadillas; sometimes we have leftovers.

Snacks change every week. I’m always on the hunt for brands that leave all the preservative junk out. Nature’s Bakery has good fig bars in an assortment of flavors. They’re at Sprouts ranging from $3.49 (on special) to $4.99 for a box of 8, but Costco sometimes sells a box of 30 for $8.99. So I got them from Costco this week. Late July is a great organic brand for crackers. We stay away from crackers most of the time, but they’re really handy when I’m driving the munchkin an hour each way on days I work.

Fruit is our snack of choice most of the time. Such a great natural way to get all that fiber, iron, and vitamins into my son’s body without giving him a bunch of “fillers” all day long. I always look for the ripest and most cost effective fruit, which helps us rotate and not get bored with the same thing all the time.

I would love your feedback on how this plan can be most effective and helpful for you. I’m here to do the work so you don’t have to. If you have any requests or suggestions let me know and I’ll do my best to incorporate them into this process.

Until My Munchkin’s next nap:
Have a beautiful day! Remember, cooking can be fun. It doesn’t have to be a headache. Smile and enjoy the process. Choosing a good attitude makes everything better.

Let me start by saying, these were soooo yummy!!! I will definitely be making these again!!

Now, I’ll be honest though, they were very tedious to prep. So save them for the days you have some time on your hands to really enjoy the cooking process.

I got my inspiration for this dish from these lasagna roll-ups
I saw on Pinterest, but I wanted meat and red sauce so the following recipe and process is my own creation.

I wanted layers of flavor, so rather than combining everything in one pan, I broke it up into separate steps. And, oh what a difference it made!!! I did, however, use the same pan for each step to save myself the headache of a kitchen full of pots and pans to clean.

The presentation of these lasagna roll-ups is beautiful, but the flavor is really where it’s at!! If you want to save yourself a little bit of time, when you’re ready to assemble (step 8 below), you can simply layer everything like a traditional lasagna. If you really want to get crazy, cook a different type of pasta such as farfalle (Bowtie), penne, or even linguini, and mix everything in a large bowl.

Step 3:
Add more olive oil to pan. Sauté the onion until softened, add a pinch of kosher salt, add garlic, and white cap mushrooms. Remove from pan and set aside.
Step 4:Deglaze pan with your choice of wine. I used a buttery, oaky Chardonnay, but a red wine would work great too; just do not use anything sweet! Use that bottle in the fridge that’s been open a few days and is better to cook with than drink. The yummy flavor mixed with the wine is called the fond. Set aside because you’ll be using it in a minute. (Make sure nothing is left in the pan that can burn.)